Reference is now made particularly to FIGS. 1-4 for the following description of a stud wall incorporating concrete masonry blocks according to the inventions disclosed in my aforesaid co-pending U.S. Patent Application. In FIGS. 1-4 there is shown part of such a wall section which includes a conventional stud wall frame construction comprising a base stud plate 10 extending along and secured to the floor 12 and a pair of upper stud plates 14 and 15 extending along and secured to the ceiling 16. A plurality of studs 18 extend vertically between, and are secured at their ends to, the floor stud plate 10 and the ceiling stud plates 14 and 15. In FIGS. 1-4, the floor stud plate, the ceiling stud plates, and the studs are shown to be made of wood; these members usually are 11/2.times.31/2 inches in cross-sectional size in the U.S. The studs 18 are spaced 16 inches on center according to standard U.S. practice A stud wall frame incorporating such members 10, 14, 15 and 18 is of conventional type and the construction thereof will be apparent to those in the art from the description herein.
The configuration of the concrete masonry blocks for use in the stud wall construction of FIGS. 1-4 will be apparent from examination of FIGS. 1-3 to which reference is now made. Concrete masonry blocks indicated generally by arrow 20 are of a modified substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. Each block 20 has a first section 22 extending the overall length of the block, and a second shorter section 24. The second shorter section 24 has two end surfaces 26 disposed at an angle to end block portions 28 which constitute the ends of said first block section 22. Thus, CM bock 20 has a main central portion 25 of major thickness including the thickness of both section 22 and 24 (shown at f in FIG. 4), plus end portions 28 of reduced thickness (shown at g in FIG. 4 discussed below). In a sense, CM block 20 may be considered as comprising a trapezoidal portion 24 extending laterally from and along the central part of a rectangular portion 22. This configuration of block 20 provides offsets or recesses 29 adjacent ends 28 of block 20; and such recesses 29 will accommodate installation of electrical junction boxes within the stud wall framing as shown at 30 in FIG. 3. Also, the angles surfaces 26 and recesses 29 near the ends of blocks 20 enable driving nails into the studs 18 and otherwise facilitate working in the space between adjacent studs and blocks 20 which have been disposed between the studs. A shown in FIG. 3, the blocks 20 are secured to the studs 18 by a plurality of metal angle strips 32 held in place by nails 34. Preferably the block retaining strips 32 are of a length equal to 3 or 4 times the height of CM blocks 20 to hold in place 3 or 4 vertically stacked blocks 20 to avoid toppling during installation. Also the block retaining strips 32 are designed so they may be applied on both sides of the blocks 20 in seismic area, or may be applied to one side of the blocks 20 in non-seismic areas.
The CM blocks 20 are disposed near one longitudinally extending edge 33 of the floor base plate 10 whereby the Cm blocks 20 are assembled within the stud wall along one side of the wall. This provides a space or cavity such as indicated at 36 along the other side of the stud wall to accommodate electrical conduits such as illustrated at 38 as well as junction boxes 30 and the like items which are used in conventional stud wall frame construction
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 particularly, a vertical series of blocks 20 are stacked one on top of the other between the floor base plate 10 and the ceiling plates 14 and 15 within the space between adjacent studs 18. Wallboard shown at 40 is applied on both sides of the stud wall framing to enclose the wall in like manner as is done with conventional stud walls.
Referring to FIG. 4, the embodiment disclosed therein is substantially like that of the embodiment of FIG. 3 described above, and the like numerals are used in FIG. 4 for like parts as in FIGS. 1-3. FIG. 4 illustrates that the CM blocks 20 may be held in place by wooden strips shown at 42 nailed into studs 18 by nails 34. As shown in FIG. 4, wooden strips 42 may also be used with metal strips 32. Wooden strips 42 may be of a length 3 or 4 times the height of CM blocks 20 to hold in place 3 or 4 vertically stacked blocks 20.
The CM blocks 20 may be mechanically installed in a stud wall using either metal strips 32 or wood strips 42 in the manner described without the use of mortar and without a skilled bricklayer or mason. If necessary or desirable, the CM blocks 20 may also be removed and are reusable due to their mechanical installation.
The block and stud wall construction system described above is possessed of numerous advantages over other systems of which I am aware, one such advantage being the ability to assembly such walls with unskilled labor resulting in a mechanically, dry stack block system for installation in stud wall constructions. Another advantage achieved with the above system is the capacity to store thermal energy in interior walls of buildings by virtue of the high mass, high coverage characteristics of the blocks.
While the aforesaid blocks form an ideal sound barrier particularly effective in the low frequency range, the fact that these blocks are dry stacked on each other has resulted in the loss of heat and transmission of sound particularly high frequency sound, through the horizontal edges of the stacked blocks which essentially abut each other in stacking engagement.
In certain types of installations, it has proven necessary to install two single electrical junction boxes back-to-back (i.e., elevationally adjacent each other) to a stud. However, the reduced thickness portions 28 extended coextensive with he hick portions 25 the full height of the block frustrates the ability to mount the second junction box adjacent the first junction box.